Teen girl taken by mother's ex-boyfriend in Virginia
Porn Company Owner, Employees Charged With
Sex Trafficking
Amber Alert Issued
By Nicholas Sakelaris
An Amber Alert has been issued for 14-year-old Isabel Shae Hicks, who has been missing since Monday.
Police believe she was abducted from her Bumpass, Va. home by 33-year-old Bruce William Lynch.
Photos from Louisa County Sheriff's Office/Facebook
(UPI) -- An Amber Alert has been issued for a 14-year-old girl missing from Bumpass, Va. since Monday.
The Louisa County Sheriff's Office said they believe the girl, Isabel Shae Hicks, was abducted from her home by her mother's ex-boyfriend, 33-year-old Bruce William Lynch. A felony abduction warrant has been issued for Lynch. Police believe he may have taken her across state lines.
It's not known whether Isabel went willingly or was taken. The FBI joined the investigation Saturday.
Isabel is described as a white female, 4 feet 11 inches tall, 120 pounds with straight blonde hair and blue eyes, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post. She was abducted in the early morning hours of Oct. 21.
Lynch is 5 feet 11 inches tall, 195 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes, cross tattoos on both upper arms and a tattoo of Bruce on the top of his back.
Isabel was last seen by her sister in their shared bedroom. But when the sister woke up in the morning, Isabel was gone and they immediately called police.
Lynch had recently had "suicidal ideations" and may be in the possession of a 9mm handgun, the sheriff's office said. He's considered armed and dangerous. Camping gear was reported missing from Lynch's home.
Lynch is driving a silver-blue 2003 Matrix Toyota with a Virginia license plate.
"Information received appears they may be traveling out of state and staying in areas where they could camp," the sheriff's office said.
Her brother, Blake Saylor and her parents joined authorities in a news conference Thursday begging for her safe return.
"We miss you very much and we want you to come home," Saylor said. "I love you forever ... I just need my best friend back."
Sex Trafficking
The company is already going through a civil trial after 22 women accused Girls Do Porn of hiring them to shoot porn under false pretenses
By EJ DICKSON, Rolling Stone
The owner and three employees of Girls Do Porn, the porn company accused of lying to and coercing women into shooting content for them, were arrested and charged with sex trafficking on Thursday.
According to an FBI press release, Girls Do Porn owners Michael Pratt, along with chief videographer Matthew Wolfe, administrative assistant Valerie Moser, and male performer Ruben “Andre” Garcia, were charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion. Garcia, Pratt, and Wolfe were also charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. If found guilty, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The charges are separate from an ongoing trial in San Diego Superior Court, in which 22 women are accusing the company of recruiting them to shoot porn under false pretenses. In their suit, the women claim that they were told that they were being hired for modeling jobs, for which they would be paid $5,000, and were not informed that they would be making pornographic content until they arrived on set. During testimony earlier this week, Moser, who spoke on behalf of the plaintiffs, said that Pratt instructed her not to tell recruits the name of the company, telling her to call it “Plus One Media” instead.
The women allege that the producers coerced them into shooting porn by telling them that the videos would only be distributed privately to individual buyers overseas, and that the content would not appear online. The women claim that the footage was then uploaded to the tube site Pornhub, and that they were subject to doxxing and harassment as a result. The suit alleges that Girls Do Porn benefited tremendously off exploiting the women, with its websites generating about $17 million.
In response to the initial complaint against the company, Pratt denied the charges, saying through his attorney that the plaintiffs had “failed to exercise ordinary and reasonable care on their own behalf,” and thus had no right to claim damages. He also attempted to stall the trial by declaring bankruptcy in January, writing in a text message that “as soon as i bankrupt the business they [the plaintiffs] are ******.” Last month, he fled the country and is officially considered a “fugitive” by the FBI.
Hundreds of millions of viewers!!!
Last July, Pornhub, which has positioned itself within the adult industry as something of an advocate for sexual education and informed consent, told Motherboard that it had removed the videos featuring the plaintiffs from its website, as well as some of the branding associated with Girls Do Porn. Yet as of this writing, Pornhub still hosts Girls Do Porn content, which has generated hundreds of millions of views. In response to questions from Motherboard about why it continued to host the content despite the allegations against the company, Pornhub vice president Corey Price wrote that “not all of the Girls Do Porn videos are being accused of improprieties,” and that the company felt that removing the videos mentioned in the lawsuit “was the appropriate course of action for right now.” Pornhub did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Upstate NY pensioner gets jail, probation for
sexual abuse of child
By W.T. ECKERT
CANTON — A Gouverneur man who sexualy abused a child last summer was sentenced to a split sentence of jail and probation Tuesday in St. Lawrence County Court.
Gary L. Mashaw, 73, of 1941 Route 812, sentenced to six months in the St. Lawrence County jail with 10 years of probation for his Sept. 9 guilty plea to felony first-degree sexual abuse in a plea deal with the district attorney’s office.
The indictment charged on or about the summer of 2018 in the town of Gouverneur, Mashaw subjected a 9-year-old child to sexual contact.
But at the time of his plea, Mashaw told the court that the child was 8 and that he touched the child’s vagina, over her clothing, for his own sexual gratification.
Mashaw took the plea on the eve of his scheduled trial in order to avoid a fate decided by jury.
According to the Dec. 14 state police arrest report, the incident took place at 12:14 p.m. on Sept. 28 in the town.
The plea deal also satisfied a remaining misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child charge in the indictment. He will have to register as a sex offender and pay fines, fees and surcharges.
Officials in court at the time of the sentencing Tuesday said the judge said Mashaw was being investigated on possible new charges, however, the details were not available.
Although there is a 10 year probation sentence, if he violates that probation, Mashaw could face to up to seven years in prison with three years of post-release supervision. A no-contact order of protection was issued in favor of the child.
St. Helens High School, Ore., kept teacher on despite sex harassment findings, allowed repeated sexual abuse of student, suit alleges
By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
St. Helens High School track coach and social studies teacher Kyle Jarred Wroblewski got his first reprimand for inappropriate behavior with female students in April 2008 – for being “too touchy” and running his hands through girls’ hair to giving shoulder massages and helping a girl stretch during practice, according to school records.
His principal ordered him to have no further physical contact with students.
New complaints arose the next year. The school district found he had sexually harassed more girls: He was caught privately texting one student, talking with another student about the “missionary” sexual position and arranging to meet a third student alone on school grounds on a weekend.
The district suspended him without pay for three days.
“The punishment fits the infraction,’” St. Helens High School Principal Nanette Hagen wrote to the coach then. “You have been guilty of serious misconduct. … Your behavior is strictly forbidden by state and federal law as well as the District’s policies.”
But the school district’s punishment fell far short, a new federal lawsuit alleges.
It allowed Wroblewski to go on to groom a 16-year-old St. Helens High School junior on his track team in 2017 and sexually abuse her repeatedly on the school grounds and at his home over seven months until his arrest in May 2018.
St. Helens police arrested Wroblewski at his home, where he had taken the day off from teaching to meet with the student and sexually abuse her, her lawyers say. In August, Wroblewski was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of second-degree sexual abuse of the underage girl.
“Despite multiple notices and warning signs known to the District that indicated that their teacher Wroblewski posed a threat to the health and safety of children enrolled in the District, the District did nothing to warn, protect, or report,’’ attorneys Stephen Crew and Peter Janci wrote in the suit.
The sexually abused teenager, graduated from St. Helens High last spring and is now 18.
The suit names the St. Helens School District, the school board, the superintendent, high school principal and guidance counselor.
They did nothing to intervene even though Wroblewski’s inappropriate relationship with the teen student was discussed widely throughout the school and reported by another student to numerous school officials by January 2018, the suit alleges.
More to this story can be found on the Oregonian.
Denver lacrosse club founder headed to trial on
child sexual assault charges
I apologize for this story, but didn't want to leave it out. If it makes more sense to you than it does to me, please send me a deciphered copy.
By ROSHAN
Herald Publicist
A Denver man who leads a big youth lacrosse group is scheduled for trial subsequent week on youngster sexual assault costs.
Robert Gormley, 57, is charged with intercourse assault of a kid by an individual able of belief a sample; and intercourse assault of a kid by an individual in place of belief sufferer age 15 to 18, in response to courtroom information. Gormley pleaded not responsible to each costs.
Whereas Gormley is the founding father of Denver Lacrosse Membership, a Denver Police Division arrest affidavit doesn’t point out his affiliation with the membership and doesn’t point out his alleged crime entails a lacrosse participant.
A trial is scheduled to start Monday.
On Nov. 30, 2018, Denver investigators contacted the sufferer who earlier that day had disclosed allegations of sexual abuse to a faculty trainer, in response to the arrest affidavit.
Gormley had massaged the woman, together with touching her naked buttocks beneath her underwear, after giving her driving classes, the arrest affidavit mentioned. He carried out comparable massages at the very least 5 instances on the woman’s house, beginning when she was 14, the affidavit mentioned.
Gormley, who was reached Monday evening by phone, mentioned: “The allegations are false.” He declined additional remark.
I suspect ROSHAN wrote this in his native tongue, whatever that may be, and translated it by Google. Apparently, this is an Indian publication!
Man assaulted child at Centre Co., Pa., farm
where previous abuse took place
BY BRET PALLOTTO
A Taylor Township farm is again at the center of a sexual assault case, with state police filing charges Monday against a Port Matilda man accused of assaulting a foster child there in 2005.
Cameron Weaver, 39, is accused of sexually assaulting a then 7-year-old girl who was a foster child at 331 McMonigal Lane. His adopted brother, Elijah Weaver, was convicted this year of sexually assaulting two girls at the farm in 2015 (See story immediately below).
The girl told Centre County Children and Youth Services she was sexually assaulted by Cameron Weaver while she lived at the farm as a foster child. The CYS report was shared with police in February, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed Monday.
Weaver called her into his room on two occasions in 2005 when nobody else was in the house and molested her, police said.
“Don’t ever tell anyone. I will lose my whole family,” the girl reported Cameron Weaver said, according to court documents.
Cameron Weaver was interviewed by police in March. He did not remember the incident after an officer told him about the allegations, according to police, but said, “Why would I pick her? Of all the kids, why any of them?”
Cameron Weaver, a Penn State maintenance utility worker, called a physical plant co-worker to discuss the interview, according to the affidavit.
“I don’t know what the big deal is; it was only one time,” the employee reported Cameron Weaver said. “How am I supposed to know? There were over 200 kids in foster care at my parent’s (house).”
He was placed on leave Tuesday, university spokeswoman Lisa Powers said. “The university is aware of these deeply disturbing allegations against an employee, and will take appropriate action,” Powers said. “... Because personnel matters are considered confidential, we cannot comment further.”
Cameron Weaver was charged with one felony count of aggravated indecent assault of a child and one misdemeanor count of indecent assault of someone younger than 13.
He was arraigned Monday by District Judge Allen Sinclair, who released him on $100,000 unsecured bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6.
Jury delivers verdict for Port Matilda man
accused of child rape
BY BRET PALLOTTO
JULY 02, 2019
A Port Matilda man was found guilty Tuesday of raping and sexually abusing two girls multiple times at a Taylor Township farm.
Nine women and three men deliberated for nearly five hours before convicting Elijah Weaver, 20, of six counts of child rape, 10 felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, six felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child and six felony counts of indecent assault of a child.
He was found not guilty of one felony count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
Two pre-teen girls disclosed in November that Weaver sexually abused them. He admitted to sexually abusing the girls during a December interview with state police at Rockview, according to a criminal complaint filed by the agency.
First Assistant Public Defender Deborah Lux denied the charges during her closing argument Tuesday, saying his statements to police were the result of “leading questions” and the girls were “coached to say more than what happened.”
“These children must be Meryl Streep if the defense wants you to believe this was an act,” Assistant District Attorney Megan McGoron said during her closing argument. “There was no reason for them to make this up.”
During the interview with state police trooper Michael Brown and Cpl. Scott Rossman, Weaver initially denied that he assaulted the girls. He later told police he was previously warned about where he put his hands on the girls, McGoron said.
Weaver then speculated it was another man who commit the abuse before ultimately confessing, McGoron said. “His confession lines up pretty squarely with what they said,” McGoron said. “He devastated these girls. He devastated this family.”
Elijah Weaver, 21, was sentenced in August to 30-60 years in state prison. A jury in July convicted him of six counts of child rape, 10 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, six counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child and six count of indecent assault of a child. He was acquitted of one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse after a two-day trial.
Bombshell $10M suit claims two NYC hotels
turned a blind eye to child sex trafficking
By Andrew Denney and Gabrielle Fonrouge
NY Post
Econo Lodge at 1000 Baychester Avenue in the Bronx, Zack Seckler
A 10-year-old girl was raped, tortured and beaten as she was sold for sex at two Big Apple motels while staff turned a blind eye to her obvious abuse, a bombshell $10 million lawsuit filed Tuesday claims.
The suit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court and the first of it’s kind in New York, claims Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Choice Hotels Corporation were complicit in the girl’s abuse by operating franchises that chose “to ignore the open and obvious presence of sex trafficking on their properties.”
The plaintiff, who is now a woman in her twenties and was only identified by the initials “S.J.”, claims she was sold for sex as much as 15 to 20 times per day at a Howard Johnson in Jamaica, Queens, operated by Wyndham, and an Econo Lodge in The Bronx, operated by Choice Hotels, between 2006 and 2009 when she was between the ages of 10 and 13, the suit states.
S.J. had met her trafficker shortly after she escaped from a foster home where she was being sexually and physically abused, the suit says, adding she’d entered into foster care after her father was caught molesting her.
“S.J.’s trafficker took advantage of her vulnerability by preying on the young girl’s normal desire for attention and approval and gaining her trust by taking her out for meals and shopping trips, and offering her life advice and the promise that she could be a part of their family,” the suit states.
The vast majority of sex trafficking victims were sexually abused as children, multiple experts have told The Post.
Once the girl’s trafficker, a 25-year-old man, gained S.J.’s trust and took her virginity, he forced her to service his clients, telling her “how you make ‘Daddy’ happy, is by making [them] happy,” the suit states.
For the next three years, the trafficker would put a “paper bag” over S.J.’s head and ferry her to the Econo Lodge and the Howard Johnson where she’d spend days at a time being raped by clients non-stop, the suit states.
The trafficker would always pay for the rooms in cash and when he didn’t have money for rooms at the Econo Lodge, he allowed hotel staff to rape his victims “in lieu of his payment for the rooms,” the papers show.
There was even a bowl of free condoms displayed at the Econo Lodge’s front desk the victims would use when they ran out, the suit states.
S.J. claimed in the lawsuit there was “constant and voluminous” foot traffic in and out of the rooms and “numerous used condoms” were left “scattered across various surfaces” at the end of each motel stay, which should’ve indicated to staff obvious criminal activity was happening.
Further, the suit states staff at both of the motels allowed the abuse to happen by failing to call law enforcement and ignoring obvious warning signs displayed by S.J. and the pimp’s other victims such as clear physical abuse, diminished personal hygiene, lack of luggage, submissiveness and inappropriate attire.
Wyndham and Choice Hotels have both signed on to the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct created by the leading anti-trafficking policy organization End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT-USA), according to the suit and ECPAT.
The code of conduct outlines six steps companies can take to prevent child sex trafficking such as establishing policy and procedures against sexual exploitation of children and training employees on how to recognize trafficking is occurring.
Choice partnered with ECPAT in 2010 and Wyndham in 2011 — after S.J.’s abuse occurred — but still don’t mandate their franchises to implement the training the way other chains do, sources familiar with the hotels said.
“The hospitality industry plays a crucial role in the sex trade. The trope of the ‘no-tell hotel’ is certainly not a new one,” the lawsuit states, adding 45% of all sexual exploitation in New York City happens in hotels.
“Every day thousands of hotel employees witness manifestations of sex trafficking and commercial exploitation. Thus, the hospitality industry has the greatest reach to prevent, identify and thwart sexual exploitation where it is most likely to occur.”
Stillwater, Ok., man charged with two counts of
child sexual abuse
By Tanner Holubar
Stillwater News Press
A Stillwater man, Michael Phillip Kurtanic, 36, was charged Monday in Payne County District Court with two counts of child sexual abuse, according to court records.
A written affidavit states that Payne County Sheriff’s deputies learned of a possible case of child sexual abuse on Wednesday, and observed forensic interviews with two children at the Saville Center on Friday. One child is 12 and the other was under 12 at the time of the alleged abuse.
Both victims said they had been abused in a rural Payne County residence by Kurtanic, who began living with the family in 2017 and recently moved from the residence in June 2019.
During the interview, one of the children said they had been taken to a separate room after Kurtanic said the child was in trouble. The affidavit reads Kurtanic removed his clothes and made the child perform sexual acts. The child also detailed other incidents where Kurtanic made the child perform lewd acts on him.
Kurtanic allegedly told one of the children that he would shoot the child if anybody was ever told about the abuse that had taken place. Kurtanic also made one of the children perform sexual acts on nearly a daily basis for months, and Kurtanic would threaten the child to comply, according to the affidavit.
Deputies took Kurtanic into custody on Friday and he was transported to the Payne County Sheriff’s Office. He initially denied any inappropriate sexual contact, but, according to the affidavit, later admitted that the children had watched him touch himself while watching pornography.
The two felony counts of child sexual abuse both hold a punishment of not less than 25 years nor more than life imprisonment, and by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000. Kurtanic appeared in court on Tuesday and the matter was set for Nov. 5.
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